In recent weeks, we have seen a series of bad blood between mobile game (and app) developers and the platforms that they are supposed to host their software on.

The issue stems from the fact that Google and Apple collect a hefty cut from the purchases that users make in an app. To circumvent that, a series of game developers prefer to host their games elsewhere instead.

This is the case with Epic Games – the amazing studio behind the successful Fortnite title. It seems that the bad blood isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, though. That is not our primary concern, seeing as this rift between the two companies won’t stop the birth of something amazing for Android gaming fans soon.

The Google – Epic Games saga

Whenever a publisher puts its app on the Google Play Store, Google takes a 30% cut from the proceeds of the purchases made in such an app. Be it a software or game, the rule holds.

Considering the time and resources that studios put into the development of their titles, this is a genuinely hefty cut. That, and we have not considered the fact that the studios will still have to pay its employees and run other costs.

Google deserves to get a cut, though.

For one, they made the Android platform possible in the first place. Otherwise, the studios might not even have something of such to develop games for. Then again, the Android software giant is responsible for keeping the Play Store safe. This comes at a cost too, and the benefits trickle down to developers.

However, they deserve to get paid does not mean that they should take such a massive chunk of the proceeds. That seemed to be the significant concern between the CEP of Epic Games and Google.

Thus, Fortnite for Android was not released on the Play Store initially. Instead, Epic Games decided to host the game externally from where users can download and install the APK. That way, they could avoid paying the royalties to Google and pocket all of the money that their popular title generates.

There was a snag, though. Google would not allow something like this go on, and they stepped in with a report. This report details how there is a vulnerability in the publicly-hosted game, allowing hackers to take advantage of users.

Something like this can be crippling to the success of any company.

It wasn’t long after that before Epic Games decided to list its game on the Play Store instead. They were not happy about it, for sure, but that could be the difference between keeping its reputation intact and otherwise.

Plans for the Future

Back in 2018, Epic Games mentioned wanting to bring an Epic Games Store (EGS) to Android. This would serve like the Steam platform where only Epic Games’ titles will be hosted. It would also allow the brand to have a dedicated location where the chances of a bug or flaw would be lower.

This is two years down the line, and we are yet to get anything of the sort. However, we should still be hopeful since the CEO of the brand has confirmed still working towards it.

It is also lovely to see that even though they have had some problems on Android, that does not mean that they are abandoning the platform. From a financial standpoint, that would be a poor decision anyways. After all, Android accounts for more than 74% of all mobile operating systems in the market.

Of course, they would still have to make the concessions to Google in sharing revenue, but it seems that the company is willing to put all that behind it and move forward.